


Just the Song?

by the_most_beautiful_broom



Series: 12 Days of Ficmas 2018 [9]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: All I want for Christmas is you, Canon Related, F/M, First Kiss, like if they hadn't had to take off from earth i think?, mariah carey knows raven's heart okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 05:25:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16947852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_most_beautiful_broom/pseuds/the_most_beautiful_broom
Summary: For the prompt: "You made me a Christmas playlist but it’s just Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is you”. I can’t tell if you’re hitting on me or if it’s a joke" with Raven being the one who made the playlist





	Just the Song?

 

“Fun as it is to listen to you guys clanging wrenches against medal,” Murphy yelled from the door and Raven lowered her wrench to listen, “could you please put something over the speakers?”

“Hands are full at the minute, Murph,” Raven called from underneath the rover.

“Same over here,” came Zeke’s reply from a couple rovers over. The Eligius ship had a hangar full of twenty-first century vehicles, and they were on their backs on dolleys throughout the wing, testing to make sure everything was where it should be. So far, so good, but also apparently so loud.

“And you can’t be any quieter?”

“For that,” Raven rolled out of the way as a tube burst from the underbelly of the car, and brake fluid poured out to where her dolley had just been, “I might just hit a little harder.”

She could hear Murphy rolling his eyes from the way he sighed dramatically. “Em? Any help here? Surely you guys have something hooked up.”

Emori rolled out from under a nearby rover to blow a kiss to her boyfriend before rolling under another vehicle. “Sorry, babe. It’s not that loud and it won’t be for too long. Besides, Raven’s music is the only thing hooked up.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Raven called, tapping the underbelly of the car and listening for anything blocked. “The mainframe only had music from a century ago; I pulled what I could.”

“All I’m hearing is that I have an alternative to racket,” Murphy muttered, walking across the room to the computer at the end. There was a tablet next to it, and the clicking sound of Murphy scrolling through playlists joined in with the clanging. “I don’t think I know half of these songs.”

“Well just pick a playlist,” Raven said, switching cars, “I have excellent taste.”

Murphy clicked his tongue. “So this is interesting...”

“What is?” Zeke grunted when Murphy didn’t elaborate and a cable wasn’t giving way.

“There’s a Christmas playlist with your name on it, buddy.”

Raven was already on her back, but in that moment she felt all the blood rush out of her face. She was tightening a screw and remembrance of exactly what was on that playlist made her crank harder. “Murphy, for the love of everything you hold dear, do not--”

“Em,” Murphy called, unbothered, “I think she’s asking for your approval?”

“I absolutely am not--”

“Hmmm,” Emori’s voice was entirely too carefree for Raven’s liking, “I do love a personal playlist.”

“It’s not a...” Raven protested weakly, before pulling herself out from under the car, wondering how she could explain this one.

“Time will tell,” Murphy said triumphantly, and then he hit play.

The sound of soft chimes like a music box filled the hangar. Murphy looked absolutely delighted when he read the name of the song; Raven wondered if his face could break from the strain of his grin. And if it wouldn’t, she’d be happy to further the process.

“Turn it off,” she warned, pushing herself off the dolly, but Murphy shook his head, even as he backed away from her.

Then Mariah Carey’s voice began: _I don’t want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need…_

There was a quick rolling of wheels, and Emori pulled herself out from under a rover, her expression of elation matching her boyfriend’s.

“Raven Reyes,” she said happily, and Raven wondered if ‘et tu brute?” was too strong of a response.

_I don’t care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree._

“Give me that,” Raven hissed, holding out her hand for the tablet, but Murphy danced away.

_I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know._

“Murphy--”

“Oh, did you say you wanted me to skip to the next song?”

“I didn’t actually--”

_Make my wish come true: all I want for Christmas is you._

Murphy skipped.

The chimes again.

Raven wondered if she could just turn roll under the wheels of one of the rovers; maybe that would be less humiliating.

Murphy skipped again, and the chimes started again.

“No. Way.” Emori’s voice was absolutely delighted, and Raven glared at her, but she didn’t seem fazed. “How many tracks? Please tell me it’s a whole bunch.”

“At least twenty,” Murphy said gleefully, and Raven decided that was it, she was dumping Monty’s algae spawn water on their bedsheets.

He skipped again, and the chimes started again.

“Out,” Raven gritted, “Thanks for your help, Murphy.”

“Oh, anytime, Ray,” he grinned, voice saccharine. “Come on, Em.”

They left the hangar, Mariah Carey still going strong, the door clanging shut behind them. Raven dashed over to the computer, shutting down the speakers. Mariah cut off mid-croon, and the silence seemed to echo around the hangar.

Then there was a rolling sound, and Zeke pulled himself out from underneath a rover.

And rather than look at him, or deal with the fact that Murphy had just completely destroyed any chances she had with a joke of a playlist she’d made in a moment of weakness, Raven sat on a stool and busied herself with the computer. She pulled up the schematics of a couple of the vehicles, suddenly engrossed in automotive engineering.

Behind her, she could hear Zeke wiping his hands on a rag thrown across the hood of a rover. Then he walked towards her and his step slowed.

She pursed her lips, knowing she should say something, without the faintest idea of what it would be. Zeke was a good guy. From another world, literally, another lifetime. And yeah he had really great arms and a super amazing voice, and yes, he had a jawline to sharpen diamonds and a smile that made her stomach flip like she was in seventh grade, but none of that meant she liked him, or whatever.

Yes, she’d made the playlist to make Harper laugh a couple weeks ago, and yes, that was an excuse to listen to the song over and over again. She really did like it, but she especially liked that it was a song from Zeke’s past life. She wondered if it was a song that everyone knew or like no one did. Maybe they played it at malls or maybe just dinner parties. Maybe Zeke knew it, and maybe the chorus had once brought someone else’s face to mind.

She didn’t like that thought.

And if she thought long enough about it, she was sure she could rationalize that away.

“I went to a Mariah Carey concert, once,” Zeke broke the silence, conversationally. Raven risked a glance at him, out of the corner of her eye. He was on her left, scrubbing at one of his hands with the rag, working on the gray liquid that covered his tank top; Raven looked back to the screens, quickly.

“That’s nice?”

“Okay, so it was a Lionel Richie concert, but she was there. My mom was obsessed.”

Raven frowned, but kept looking ahead. “With Lionel Richie?”

“What? No, with Mariah.”

“Oh,” she said, because she wasn’t sure if there was any other response.

“Raven.”

“Hmm?”

“Could you look at me, maybe?”

And she did, which was a bit of a mistake. Because Zeke’s head was tilted, just a bit, and his eyes were curious, searching hers, and Raven was pretty sure that after the panic of Murphy playing the songs, she wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding anything.

Zeke flipped the towel over his shoulder, but held his ground a couple steps away. “I like the song,” he said simply.

But something about the way he said it, with a pause before the direct object, that made Raven’s heart hold its breath.

And he hadn’t even smiled.

He look a step closer and Raven hadn’t realized she’d turned on the stool but apparently she had and she had to tip her head back a bit to look up at him. Up close, she could smell the cars on him, and she knew he probably could on her, too. The grease and the engine smoke, the grittiness, something she was used to washing off her body but that felt like home, like familiarity, like being grounded.

Zeke took another step and he was right in front of her, eyes still thoughtful, considering, searching, and Raven wondered what would happen if she just stopped, for a moment. Something in her knew that if she stopped protecting herself, didn’t mend every crack as it surfaced, let someone in, then a boy from Detroit might just raze the walls entirely. He might rend every stone from its place, might be careful and gentle, might not be so bad. Might actually be wonderful.

And because he’d already heard the playlist, already seen her friends’ reactions, already knew, had to know, where she stood on the matter, Raven found the courage somewhere inside of her to ask, “Just the song?”

His eyes wrinkled when he smiled.

She knew that, had known that before she knew that she knew it, but it was something else to see it up close. When his mouth turned up, his eyes wrinkled, and Raven wondered how someone could shine, even through the grime of the hangar.

His next step was fast, almost subconscious, and then a hand was on the back of her neck, pulling her towards him, and Raven’s eyes slid closed just before his lips brushed over hers. He tasted like metal, like sweat and like engines, and Raven’s hands were fisting in the front of his shirt before she knew she needed him closer. His hand was gentle on her neck, weaving into her hair with just enough pressure where her skull met her spine, and when he pulled back, she fell forward a bit. Zeke’s hands caught her, of course they did, steady on her upper arms as he bent to her eye level.

He looked at her for a long moment, emotions clear on his face that Raven hadn’t dared hope for. His eyes crinkled and he shook  his head slightly, like he couldn’t believe he had to spell it out for her.

“Not just the song.”


End file.
